Layout:
Home > Archive: March, 2018

Archive for March, 2018

Saturday Ramblings

April 1st, 2018 at 04:42 am

I don't know, I'm super happy for a friend of mine who got promoted and is now making six figures. But I just can't help but think of all the money she waste since she's gotten this promotion. New car, $60k+ two homes with mortgages and looking to buy another. And now she's planning trips for the entire family, extended included.
I love her to pieces, like a sister, but I'd rather see her pay down her debt. You never know what might happen. Oh well 😔

As far as for me, well today was pretty productive. I'm still not watching tv 📺 so I was able to get things done. Cleaned my bathroom 🛀 , balanced my checking account, got an oil change and cleaned the rest of the house. Feeling accomplished.

I tried mobile depositing a check to my sinking fund, but I guess I've reached my limit for March, so I'll wait until tomorrow. I never knew there was a limit.

I also set up a Christmas 🎄 account with Capitol One 360 today. I tried keeping everything in the sinking fund that I use for car maintenance and insurance but I keep having to put money towards the car 🚗🙄🤦🏾‍♀️.

The vacation club, though I've struggled with what to do with this money, I'm going to keep it just for what I started it for, a vacation. I've been socking $20 a pay period and I'm now at $140. The plan is to treat myself to a very nice vacation once this debt is paid off. Though I'm anticipating 2-3 years, I figured I'd have a nice chunk of change and maybe I can go to Monaco 🇲🇨 after all, lol. Monaco is so expensive, I don't know if $40 a month will cut it.

Target Payment Posted

March 31st, 2018 at 10:06 am

4:30 am and the first thing I did when my eyes 👀 opened, was check my Target 🎯 balance. Thank goodness the $349 was processed, I cab now update my sidebar. Only about $347 dollars left, I'm sure they'll be an additional $5 in interest 🤦🏾‍♀️ but that's the price you pay when you use credit cards 💳.

I also received a request to purchase an item on OfferUp, $10. I hope this is a legitimate sale. So many make offers and don't show up. I decided to no longer meet folks closer or easier for them. Meet me at my nearby police 👮🏼 department. I'm sick of folks not showing.

Lastly, today is a busy day. One I want to get at least 20 minutes of cardio in, secondly I have to get an oil change and then other miscellaneous stuff done. I've decided that both Saturdays and Sundays will not be filled with work so on Sundays I'm resting. I may even head to the beach 🌊 tomorrow

Just Sucker Punched CC4

March 30th, 2018 at 08:39 am

Just paid over $300 on the Target 🎯 bill, my new balance is $349.61. I should have this sucker paid off by the end of April, thank you Jesus.

I pulled my credit score with Transamerica and it was 698, not bad. Think my high score was 702. I noticed that as I pay these suckers off it's creeping back up. The jump is due to the decrease in high balances.

Back to Target, I'm going to be really annoyed if my payment isn't posted right away. They have a tendency of holding high payments. They actually suck, you can only make like two payments in a 7-day period, you can't add decimals. For example, I'd budgeted $348.76 but had to round up. No big deal but I like a balanced budgets, no over budget items just under. And lastly they hold large sums of payments. They make it extremely difficult to get your balance down.

It's 3:29 am and I've already spent the following:
* $196.08 Tithes - not negotiable
* $20 vacation club (savings)
* $211 JCP - minimum payment that include my AAA purchase
* $349 Target - debt snowball

Though a lot has gone out and I haven't cut the rent check yet, I'm thankful because one, I never thought in a million years that I could and would be faithful with my tithes. Secondly, with my raise and paying down debt, I've freed up over $500 a paycheck. Right now all you see are the payments but I'm about to add a total of $107 to my savings. All I think about is, when CC4 💳 is gone that will be another $50.

I'm so overwhelmed with mix emotions. I'm upset that I'm on this journey once again and I'm glad that I'm doing what it takes to no longer be slave to the lender.
I know it takes time and that I'll get there

Over It

March 30th, 2018 at 02:10 am

I've played around with my budget so much for the upcoming period that I drove myself crazy.

I realize that I have become overly obsessed with my budget and paying off debt that I'm actually not eating. Usually when I'm stressed I don't eat, I didn't even realized that I'm stressed. I got on the scale and I'm down 10lbs. I'm glad I lost the weight but not how I did it. 🙄🤦🏾‍♀️

I finally wrapped up my budget, though I can't, well I opted not to, pay extra on these stupid student loans, I decided to sock it to CC4. The good news is, one I replenished what I spent on AAA service, and I will literally cut CC4 💳in half. Once I get a job closer to home, I can cut the AAA service to the lower plan.

Different news, SO came home complaining about his mother. She was able to pay him his pay check 💰 but didn't give him the money for all the things he bought to do the job.

Long story short, she waste money, doesn't manangement the books appropriately and he refuse to say anything to her because he might hurt her feelings. Me, I'm just over it. So I let him rant, while I thought 💭 about all the receipts he has and that I need to scan them to Receipt Hog 🐷 before the cut off date.

Finally when he's done, I just say, "what's the solution?" He says, " I don't know." I say, "well you've been dealing with this since I don't know how long and you need to come up with a solution." I start scanning the receipts and he says "I guess I'm scared." I say, "fear will always hold you back." I finished my scanning of receipts and walk out. I use to feel bad, but I'm over it and my goal to retire at 57 and to make my dad proud. I can't waste time telling a man to take the business from his mom before he falls flat on his face.

Budget, Car All Equals Money

March 29th, 2018 at 01:15 am

I'm m trying to figure out how to get this Target credit card 💳 paid off by mid April. I've revamped the budget a 100x but I can only pay half the amount owed, about $350.

I'm so annoyed because, yesterday my car broke down, flat tire and this is the second nail I've picked up in the last week. I work over a hour away, I had to wait for the SO to come help me, and didn't get home until after 7pm. So today I ordered AAA, cost $100. I'm glad I had the money but annoyed that I had to use it. At least with this service I get a 100 miles of towing, and given that I work about 30 miles away, this is good. Not to mention, my car is 16 years old with over 220k miles.

Now that I think about it, I have to take a look at the budget again, to account for this $100 loss

I'd loved to have one month that Murphy doesn't visit

Student Loan Saga Continues

March 27th, 2018 at 01:54 am

So I called Great Lakes, and apparently no matter what amount you pay extra, the amount can only be applied to interest. This is absolutely ridiculous, no wonder people take years to pay this crap off.

I'm going to write my Congressman/woman, something had to be done.

So, I've decided not to alter the DR plan after hearing this. I'll go ahead and pay off Target this month.

I received a $10k more on the house, thank goodness. That means more money to pay down debt. 🤦🏾‍♀️🙄. A nice chunk of change going all towards debt, I can just kick myself

Who hoo a extra $30 on CC

March 25th, 2018 at 05:45 pm


SO filled my car up today, ⛽️ so what I had budgeted, $30, I'm throwing to my savings on CC4.

We headed over to Target after church ⛪️, I got cubed steak for dinner on clearance, too bad they didn't have any chicken. Meals are based on what's on sale. I headed to Aldi and picked up apples 🍎, grapes 🍇 and paper towels. Aldi has such great deals.

Now that dinner is in the crockpot, I'm just going to relax for a little while. Love Sundays

Student Loans and Credit Card Points

March 25th, 2018 at 12:31 am

I haven't been using my BoA card 💳 other than paying my mom bill and then making the payment the same day. I do this for the points.

I had enough points to add $12.50 to the balance so I requested the points. There was a time that I was big on this but not anymore, cash is my new best friend, points just aren't worth it. Only reason I do this is to keep my mom expenses separate from mine when I'm balancing. Oops I do not pay my mother's bill, she's a senior and refuse to learn how to use online bill pay so I do it for her, with her money lol.

Regarding the student loan, I figured out I have to pay an extra $200 a month the keep this thing from getting higher, that's what I'm paying in interest. Ugh. I did not know what the devil I signed up for when I signed up for my masters. I have adjusted the budget to reflect this extra payment. I'm just happy that I am becoming more financially conscious.

I'm thinking of using the so called vacation fund as my fun money. Right now I budget $20 a pay period to go to this account, and I typically budget $30 to $40 for fun. I've been debating on what to do with this account, well now I know. This will be my fun money. The $30-40 typically budgeted will be added to CC4.

Since I've cut out the tv 📺, I have been more productive. Grant it I did waste a little time surfing the internet but I accomplished a lot. I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom, I went through my dining and living area, changed the sheets on the bed and put away laundry that I've been holding out on.

Lastly, I tackled my budget, and planner, getting ready for April, next month things are really lean. I managed to budget the extra $100 a month I'd like to save, pay extra on CC4 and pay extra on those stupid student loans. I feel pretty good. Only thing I'm concerned with is should I pay the extra on the principle or the interest? The interest compounds daily

Student Loans

March 24th, 2018 at 07:00 am

Up late and checking balance dues. While doing so, I noticed that if I select auto payment for my student loans, my loan rate will reduce by .25%. It's not much but it's enough to save me some money so I'm signing up.

I also noticed that even though I pay every month my loan balance is increasing. I pay only the minimum, but shouldn't it go down a little? WTH? This makes me so angry, I now want to tackle this debt before the CCs. I know I'll be out of order of the baby steps but this is absolutely ridiculous. I think, well I know, I'm going to change somethings around regarding my monthly goals. Right now it's to save $200 a month to the EF, I'm still going to this. It's not part of the steps but it gives me comfort; being able to cash flow some things, such as my $300 car repair is better than accumulating more CC debt. Once I get BS1 to $3k I can stop adding to it. After looking at my loan debt, I'm going to add a monthly goal to pay an extra $100 on the loan. I'm going to revamp my budget.

Goals revamp
* Yearly pay down debt, stick with a budget
* Quarterly pay off one CC (four for the year)
* Monthly save $200 and pay $100 on student loan. Read one nonfiction book 📚 preferably on finances
* Daily get a little exercise in

Since I'm not going on vacation, I'm not sure what to do with the money. I feel like a) I should throw it at debt, it's about $40 a month. Or b) keep adding to it, to give myself a little me time one weekend. I'm so tired and I'd love to check in, at a hotel on the beach 🌊 and just unplug. All by myself. Or c) purchase that laptop I've been wanting and not needing. I'd love a laptop that I can carry with me. I can use it to work on my budget while I'm away or in bed. It's more for convenience.

Lastly one of my coworkers birthday is coming up. I really like her. She's planning happy hour 🍷 Monday but I've already blew through my fun money, for another coworker. This is where discipline comes in. I'm going to have to let her know that I just can't make it. I have nice bottle of wine 🍷 that I'm going to give her as a gift. I do have the vacation club money and the buffer in the checking but I just can't do it. I don't want to get in the habit of shuffling money around. I'm just going to let her know that I can't make it.

Update to post. So apparently there are rules in my student loan agreement that, require that outstanding interest and late fees (if applicable*) must be paid first, prior to a payment being applied to the loan principal. I check my loan balance and notice that it was going up vs down. I know Dave says to pay the smallest to largest debt first but the way things are going, I'll be in a 100k student loan debt if I don't pay this off.

I have one of two options for the extra payments and need your help.

Standard Allocation
(Most common)
* Once scheduled monthly payment and all outstanding interest has been paid, excess will be applied to the loan with the highest interest rate, thus costing supposedly costing me less interest over time. 
Done automatically.
Custom Allocation
(Least common)
* Once scheduled monthly payment has been paid, excess will be applied to the specific loans of your choosing. I set up manually.
* Here I can allocate how much of the excess payment is applied to the interest and how much is applied to the principle

No TV

March 23rd, 2018 at 11:18 am

I'm 13 days in and haven't watched any tv 📺. To be honest with you my hardest days are the weekends, but I find things to do around the house.

I pretty much surf the internet and read. If things goes well I'm cutting the cable down even more, probably turn that sucker off. I have been looking at different digital antennas.

On a different note I have a job interview today for a HR manager role. I'm a little annoyed because the interview is in the middle of the day. I hate that especially when the organization knows that you are working. But I'm going and will be late. Going forward, if I can't get an early morning interview then I'm not going. I'm so ready to leave this job that I am at. However, my prayer is that my next job is where God wants me

What a Day

March 21st, 2018 at 11:55 pm

What a day!

Today I was to be off and run a few errands, well I didn't get home until after two.

First stop, doctor's office. The wait there is always annoying but thank God I only come once a year. I was also happy, because the $65 budgeted for this visit, I didn't have to pay, I'm thinking snowball.

Next I went to have my lab work done. I'd schedule an appointment at a different facility but with the same company. Since there's one near my doctor's 👩🏾‍⚕️ office, I head over, only to find out there's no where for me to sit, the place is packed. I stop at another lab 🔬, that one is more packed than the other. I tried the third one, I had difficulties finding it and that was more crowded than the previous two, smh. So I head to the location that I actually have the appointment. I was trying to get in earlier because I was Fasting and starving.

Since the location that I have the appointment at is near a tire place, I drop my car off to have my tire looked at. Every other day I'm adding air. I found out that I had a nail. I knew it would be some what of a wait so I head over to lab. Get there, and they can't locate the doctor's order. I give the intake specialist my prescription 💊and she's still having a problem. Smh. Finally she finds the order. I get my blood work done before my appointment and I'm happy 😊.

Head over to Ross to kill time. While there I felt uncomfortable. Though I have money set aside for fun, Ross is the last place I want to speak my money. I look down and notice that the tire company called.

I walk back to the tire place, my car is fixed and it's $21. Yay for me because I'm thinking I can add the difference that wasn't paid at the doctor's office to my CC.

Get outside and the car 🚗 won't start. I mean nothing. The mechanic 👨🏾‍🔧comes and does something, then tells me it's my starter. Cost $336. I'm not happy but glad I have the cash to be able to pay to have the repairs.

So while they're working on the car 🚗 I walk to Walmart. I found the book lamp that I was looking for. Went there last night and the clerk told me they didn't have them. I did look in the area of the books but missed it last night. I'm glad I found it though. I've cut out tv 📺 and am reading a lot more. With every financial book 📚 I learn something and that I'm thankful for.

After all that I am now I'm home 🏡 thankful

House Dilemma 🏡

March 21st, 2018 at 10:51 am

So I got another bid on the house, about $5k more. We have until the 26th to have the bids in and then 15 days after to close. This is my dad's house.

My attorney told me I'll be able to get all my legal fees and tax money back. The good news is, with the sale of the house I should be able to pay off debt.

Here's my dilemma and I need your help. As you all know, I'm following the DR plan. Dave says not to buy a house unless all debt is paid off. And 3-6 month expenses are saved.

First, I can take the money from the sale of the house and pay off all CC debt and half of the lower student loan.

Secondly I can pay off all CC debt except maybe one card 💳 and keep the student loan using the remainder of the money for a down payment on the house.

The house, well villa I'm in is being sold to me for below market price, about $20-30,000 less. The mortgage will be $635 about $300 less than what I pay now in rent.

I'm thinking if I go with option two, I could have the one CC paid off by or before the end of the year and be left with the student loan and a mortgage. I'll be tackling the student loan and with no CC debt (about $1000 a month in minimum payments) I should be able to knock out one loan in a year and a half.

I'm really nervous about letting this villa go, the price is too good to miss out on. Homes in the area sell for about $300k and have stayed high even during the recession, the only slightly decrease. To get this place at $140k is a steal. Plus I've been living here for the last 7 years.

I'm in Palm Beach Florida and yes homes are extremely expensive, we are one of the richest counties, roll my eyes, in the nation. Homes in the worst neighborhoods (crime) are selling for $190k +

If I could pay off Target before the sale, that would leave me with 6 CCs. I'm sure this card will be paid off by end of month early April. With that being said, I'd knock out all CCs except number 10, paying it down by at least half.
Now, I do have about $15k in a savings account. As you all recall that's money I do not want to touch and it's not listed on my sidebar, this would be my 3-6 months worth of expenses should something happen.

I know I know but I'm really leaning towards buying the villa, ugh! I just hate I got myself back into debt, it makes me sick.

Weekend Shenanigans

March 19th, 2018 at 04:52 am

Tackling the debt was the best thing I could have done.

Just looked at my budget for the next budget period and realized I can put 20 to 25 percent of my income into savings and still pay a little extra on the CC. Though I'd love to do that, I'm going to throw it at CC4 to get it down to $400 or less. Then I'll add a little to the EF to bump me over the $1200 mark.
This is all after paying my tithes first. God has truly blessed me. My prayer is that I continue on this path with no looking 👀 back. One of these days I'm going to be that person, walking around handing out $100 bills during Christmas time.

When you're doing what you are suppose to, you not only pay bills on time, something I never had a problem with, but you're way ahead of schedule. I usually pay the BoA credit card 💳 with the last check of the month because it's not due until the 2nd or 3rd, but for some reason I paid it the last budget period. Lol. I couldn't believe I had done that, and to be honest I'm not sure why. Maybe God wanted me to see the fruits of my labor.

I'm so loving this.

Saturday I went into a beauty supply store, and casually mentioned I wouldn't mind working part time, the owner's son offered me a job. I was like wow! They know me, I frequent the location, but the problem is that I can only do two Saturdays and month and Sundays are out, God has been too good for me not to worship. I'm going to pray on it and see if something doesn't work itself out where I can take on the extra job. I can use the extra cash to pay down student loan debt 👩🏽‍🎓. That would be awesome.

I forgot to mention that the SO suggested that we go out for ice cream 🍦 St. Paddy's Day 🍀. We're doing this less tv 📺 thing. I was a little hesitant but thought why not? Long story short, ice cream 🍦 and a milkshake was $20 at Kilwins, yikes! I wanted to scream but kept my mouth shut 🤐 . For the last two weeks he's been doing pretty good. But I couldn't help but wonder why couldn't we add this $20 to the EF or debt? I need to stop focusing on finances so much and enjoy life, but not to the point that I'm back where I started. I find myself not wanting to spend the fun money 💰 that I budget 🤦🏾‍♀️.

Honestly; it was a nice outing. We people 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦watched, found a really cool bookstore 📚 , and a super cozy coffee ☕️ shop that just so happen to be having spoken words, so we sat in. All in all it was a great weekend.

Target CC Down

March 19th, 2018 at 02:16 am

I went ahead and paid $37 on CC4 knocking it below the $700 mark 😄. I'm so excited, that I'm trying to think of ways to actually have it paid off before May 1st.

My quarterly goal was to pay off one CC per quarter, I've already met my first quarter goal but it sure would be nice to make it two, in one quarter. I'm not going to stress too much about it because I'm already on track.

I also added an additional $38 to the EF bringing the total to $1174. This is awesome because I want to save at least a $100 a month, and I've beaten that goal for March already 😄. In addition; I'd budgeted $65 for the truck registration and it was actually $49 so I'll be adding the difference to the EF.

On a different note, I have cut out TV, the best thing I could have done. I find that by not watching tv 📺 I get to work on time, and there's more time in my day. Next on my list is social media. I have however; been listening to a new podcast, Jen Hemphill, I like her. She discusses finances and interviews an array of people.

Lastly, the SO and I just finished up our bible study 📖, I'm not sure what's happening but he's making some progress. I did end up asking how his week went with no spending and he said pretty good.

Edit to post. Just noticed that the funds for an item sold on Poshmark was now redeemable, $7.05, so I added this to my EF. I'm so excited. Things are trucking along. New balance $1,181.05

Decisions

March 18th, 2018 at 07:30 pm

I had budgeted $110 for the optometrist. Well for some reason, things just didn't sit right. I had scheduled my appointment but something kept nudging at me to call them. So I did and found out that my renewal is in July.

I ordered my contacts, that came to $34.99 and canceled my appointment. I'm going to pay half of what's saved to the CC and put the difference in the EF. But a part of me is saying add the entire $75 to CC4. If I did this it will bring the balance to about $658.

Decisions

SO Update

March 17th, 2018 at 07:41 pm

OMG, the SO had me to pay the cable bill. This is the first time that he has ever paid his share on time. I almost fell out of my chair 💺. I can't believe it. Is he really trying to get things in order? For his sake I hope so.

I know last week he had mentioned that he was doing a no Spend challenge. I didn't ask how things went, I'm just glad that he's trying.

$1,000 Payment Held

March 17th, 2018 at 10:28 am

On the 28th of February I paid a $1,000 on CC4. I notice that my available credit after paying it hadn't changed, so I called the credit card 💳 company. Well they were holding the funds.

Why would they hold the funds? Well I found out that if you make a large payment they hold your funds. This to me is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. I paid it and it should be processed. Well they finally processed it yesterday, two and a half weeks later. Smh

I've updated my side bar, things are looking pretty good. As you all know, I'm not going on the vacation but I'm saving now for a laptop. I probably could have purchased a refurbished one this budget period but I decided to wait, it's not a must. I do like the idea of putting money aside so when I want a big purchase such as a laptop 💻 that's not an emergency 🚨, I can simply just purchase the item. Or maybe one day I can treat myself to a fabulous lunch, and a little shopping that's credit card 💳 free. What I've found is that this program works but for me I need to do something nice once in a while or at least know that I can. Though I haven't done anything foolish since I've started, just knowing that I have the $100 to blow, if I get a crazy urge, makes me feel good. It's a process. Who knows, I may use this money to pay my CCs, that seems to give me the most pleasure. Who would have thought that paying down debt, gave you a natural high lol 😂 too funny.

I know Dave says to save a $1000 for the EF and then tackle debt. But my car is old with over 200k miles. I drive about 60 miles round trip each day for work. So for me, I think I need to budget funds for the EF, even if it's $20. I want to have at least $6k 💵 saved in case I have to buy another car 🚗. I'm happy that I was able to throw an extra $54 at it. This may slow me down a bit, but if my car breaks down rather than financing I'll have good ol sweet cash 💰.

Sinking fund, well this was to be for car insurance, car maintenance 🚗, Christmas 🎄 gifts and sorority dues; unfortunately I've been using this account strictly for car repairs. I'm glad I have the money 💰 but I was really hoping to be able to pay my car insurance for six months. I have one more item to fix on my car, once that's done everything else should be good and come October I'll be able to pay the six months.

Oh SO, has challenged himself not to spend any money, seems like last week he did pretty good. I didn't ask but I'm happy he's at least trying.
That's it for now.

Grocery Funds

March 13th, 2018 at 10:05 am

I about fell out of my chair when the SO handed me a $100 for groceries. I could not believe it. I've been budgeting about $60 each pay date for groceries, for things I eat vs the house.

I slowed down with cooking because he was basically was not contributing and a ton of food was going to waste. What's good about this is, the $60 I just budgeted, I'm adding to my EF. I'll meal plan for the next two weeks and use the funds he gave me. I guess when you stop complaining and just show folks they get the picture.

Tomorrow I have an interview for a HR manager role, I'm praying that things pan out. One it would be closer to my home, two it puts me in a manager's role and three it's more money. Oops I forgot, the benefits are much better than the crap we currently have at my current employer. Please pray for me.

How I won with money, yesterday? Well I went into the grocery store and only bought what was on my list and that came out to $7.88

Nice Little Check

March 10th, 2018 at 03:24 am

One thing I like about being an admin is that I'm able to view my check five or so days before payday.

Took a look at my check, and it's about $300 more. This include the raise and me changing my total withholdings. Best thing I could have done was read the instructions on the W4 form and completed the document more accurately. Why have a refund that's not earning interest for me, on money I earned, when I can use my money now? When you know better you do better. That's why I'm reading more and more books on personal finances.

Different news, I applied for a job and had a phone interview. The position is paying about $10k more a year and closer to my home. All went very well and I'm pleased. I was told that they'll be a second interview next week.

That's all the news I have planned. Tomorrow after my sorority meeting, I'll be revamping my budget. It feels good to know that CC4 will be gone soon

No Family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Vacation 🌴 For Me

March 4th, 2018 at 07:11 pm

Well I'm not going on the family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 trip, I knew I wouldn't be going but was putting the money up just in case. I realized that a laptop is more important not to mention paying down my debt than going on a trip ✈️ 🌴

I did some researched and found a refurbished HP laptop 💻 at Walmart for $139. So just two pay periods away and I should be able to purchase one, cash 💰. In the past, I've always put these items on a credit card 💳 and bought brand new. Well it feels so good to know that I can cash flow things and know that refurbished is just as good as new.

Though it's not a must that I buy the laptop 💻 and I probably won't, I've learned to wait three days before making a purchase and that is why I'm so happy.

On a different note, I created the sinking fund for Car insurance, car repairs, gifts and sorority stuff. But I've spent everything on car repairs. First brakes and next alignment, and tire rod. Now I have save up for a motor mount 🤦🏾‍♀️

Car Repairs 🚗

March 3rd, 2018 at 09:47 pm

Took my car in for service and was annoyed because they had it for over 6 hours and no one called me.

Not to mention they provided a service that I did not agree too, but knew I needed. Long story short the bill went from $509 to $317 (including tax) and I was able to cash flow the services.

God blesses those who are good stewards

Car Repairs 🚗

March 3rd, 2018 at 09:18 pm

Took my car in for service and was annoyed because they had it for over 6 hours and no one called me.

Not to mention they provided a service that I did not agree too, but knew I needed. Long story short the bill went from $509 to $317 (including tax) and I was able to cash flow the services.

God blesses those who are good stewards

Not Every Discount is Worth It

March 3rd, 2018 at 02:26 pm

Thank God for a sinking fund. Took my Camry in for a tire rotation, balance alignment and repair of the right tire rod. The car 🚗 is paid off with 222,356 miles.

I met a mechanic at the shop the last time I was there, who told me he did side work. But when I called him he wanted me to come in on a day that was slow, and his bosses weren't in. I'm thinking, I thought 💭 you did this at your home? Though I contemplated taking my car to him to save money 💰, I knew it was wrong. This is stealing, and God has been too good to me, so I took my car in for service and am prepared to pay what it costs in cash 💵

Hopefully the service isn't more than $400, because that's what I have in my sinking fund. I'm just waiting for a call back with the estimate.

Next, I was approved for the loan of $112k, closing must occur no later than June. I can't wait to sell the house and pay off my debt. I'm so thankful because, after paying off the debt, I'll still have money 💰 (20%) for the down payment. As well as a pretty decent EF. I can then get rid of the SO, my mortgage is estimated at about $350 less than rent. I'm going to cut the cable off, and start saving and living like no one else 😊.

This next pay period CC4 should be gone and then it's onto CC5. I'm so glad I started this debt pay off, that way I'm not using all my money from the sale to pay off debt. Feels good to finally see some progress.

On a different note, this month's book 📚 is "Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck" and I absolutely hate it! I'm almost done, I hate starting things and not finishing. The author encourages use of credit card and a line of credit, absurd. If I'm living check to check, that means one have not nipped their behavior in the bus and you're recommending credit card 💳 use, ridiculous.

Car Accident, Again

March 2nd, 2018 at 11:14 am

On my way home today, feeling pretty good and I'm stopped due to traffic on the freeway. Well next thing I know is I hear boom! Some guy hit my car 🚗

Thank God I was not hurt or my car damaged, I just fixed this stupid bumper. 🤦🏾‍♀️🙄. They guy jumps out yelling all is well, well I needed to see for myself. I got his tag, photo of his ID and his number. Tomorrow I'm taking the car to the shop to have the bumper checked.

These last few months have been nothing but a headache.

Only thing that seem to perk me up, was looking at my March 15th budget. Looks like, I've freed up a enough cash to pay about $300 on CC4, wow! So excited. I might be able to do $400, depending on how my raise and change in deductions impact my pay. But even with $300, I'd knock it down close to $400 and by April it would be paid off. Good thing about all of this is that, I'm less stress and would have met and went beyond my first goal of paying off at least on CC.

Hard work pays off